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Serious Burger Find in Agoura (of all places?)

After a long bike ride yesterday, I stopped at my favorite TJ Maxx in Agoura for a little shopping and to find a burrito to replace all the calories I'd just burned. As I headed toward my usual fav Baja Fresh, I walked through the funky little strip mall on the corner of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Lindero, and stumbled upon an incredible little gem called The Ranch Catering Co. and Restaurant. A tiny menu of about 10 versions of burgers, roast beef dip and chicken burgers on homemade buns sent me into fits of dancing foot umami burger happiness. The tiny place feels like a those comforting ranchy steak houses in Napa or Santa Ynez with dark woods, high tables with comfy stools and 4 inch slat wood blinds on the windows to hide the ugly strip mall parking lot outside. The simple menu included two sizes of hand molded certified black angus beef, two kinds of cheese, an honest piece of real lettuce, and their signature fresh baked buns. I ordered their Inferno, which I was actually able to request in "medium rare!" Came with jalapeno, jack pepper cheese and a spicy sauce. All the menu items come delightfully fresh from the kitchen in a top carried 10" tent of foil that looks like a poofy gift just arrived at the table. Simple, you open the top and the aroma escapes - there is your burger on a piece of wax paper. As I gobbled it down, the burger actually produced delicious drippings onto my foil "dish" that i would swab up with french fries. Apparently this place used to be a full catering company, but they opened a little restaurant in the front with a few of their items. They have salads too -- but who cares about a rabbit experience, when you could have one heck of burger? What a find. Yay! I"ll be back!

This stew is based on the savory rice porridge congee, which has roots in Chinese, Thai, and Korean cuisines. Though the dish uses some classic Asian ingredients—such as fish sauce, ginger, and bok choy—the flavors are not aggressively Asian.